My smile faltered as reality slashed through the sweet memory. Lucy didn’t find this sweet at all.
“What are you talking about?” Lucy asked. “Do you hear what you just said?”
“You’re in shock, Lucy,” Gretchen said. “Just listen.”
“You knew about this?” Lucy shot back, redirecting her glare at Gretchen.
“Some of it.”
“David Dylan,” Lucy echoed. “As in, my client, Andrew’s friend, Dani’s—” Her eyes darted frantically over the table as she tried to find the word.
“Yes,” I said softly. “Your client, your husband’s friend, and the man your sister was seeing.”
Lucy’s eyebrows met in the middle of her forehead. “How did this happen?”
“I’m sorry to spring it on you both, but like I said, you’re my best friends.” I looked between them. “I need you now. I need you there after I tell Bill.”
Lucy ignored what I’d said and quietly repeated, “How?”
“David and I have a . . . connection. I wish I could show you how I’m feeling, Luce, because it’s impossible to describe. Bill has always been good to me, and I love him, I do. I don’t want to hurt him. But with David, it’s different, it’s—”
“Of course it’s different,” Lucy interrupted. She held up her fingers to tick off each point. “David is gorgeous. Wealthy. Charming.Experienced.” Her hands flew up in exasperation. “He knows exactly what you want to hear.”
“You set him up with your sister,” I pointed out.
“That’s something else entirely. He knows she’s not the type you just fool around with.”
“And I am?”
“No, but that’s irrelevant because you’re married. You’remarried,” she repeated. “What are you doing?”
I just stared at her, my mouth hanging open slightly.
“He is a total player,” Lucy continued, her face contorting with disgust. “I set him up with Dani so he could see that there are women out there worth settling down for. But he’s not the type of guy you leave your husband for. Jesus Christ. I mean, does he think of you as some sort of challenge?”
She had pinpointed my greatest insecurity and shoved it in my face. David was a player. He had women falling all over him, and I knew he’d taken advantage of that. What made me different? Was it because he’d had to chase me? Without evidence to deny Lucy’s claims, I remained quiet and wrung my hands in my lap.
“I’ve talked to him.” We both turned to Gretchen. “I’ve talked to David,” she said, “and this isn’t a game for him. He is crazy about her. Helovesher. He told me.”
My skin prickled as I thought of my David—sexy, tall, and strong, with an enormous and loving heart. It gave me the strength to beat back the doubt creeping in.
“That’s utterly ridiculous.” Lucy’s hard-edged voice cut into my thoughts. “He’d say anything to get what he wants,” she told Gretchen. “What makes her different from the hordes of women he sleeps with?”
“It’s different because every time we’re in the same room,” I said, “I can barely stand not to touch him, to feel him, to look into his eyes. In his arms I feel safe. I feel loved. Not the way Bill loves me, but in a way that I could almost open up my chest and give him my heart.”
They both gaped at me, not bothering to hide their surprise. Lucy visibly grasped at words. “I . . . wow,” she said softly. “I never thought I would hear something like that come out of your mouth. It’s so . . . not you. It’s romantic and—and emotional.”
I sighed my relief and nodded.
“But I don’t think you’ve thought this through,” she said slowly, shaking her head. “You met David—how long ago? When I announced my engagement . . . oh, God, I’m going to be sick.” She put her head in her hands. “This is my fault.”
“Technically, I met him the night we went to the ballet. Remember?” I said. “Andrew’s firm had tickets. David was there, and we had this . . . thismoment. I never thought I’d say this, but it was like we were meant to meet that night.”
Gretchen smiled. “It’s really romantic, Luce, if you think about it.”
Lucy looked up finally and pinned me with a glare. “Have you slept with him?”
My eyebrows joined with confusion. It was true, what I was doing to Bill was awful, but this wasLucy, the idealist. Couldn’t she see the romance of David and me? “I mean, yes, we—”
